AFP11/11/2003By [Printer Friendly Version]
DUSHANBE - US military engineers has begun preliminary work on building a 12 million-dollar (10.4 million-euro) road bridge over the river that separates Afghanistan and the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan, the US embassy in Dushanbe said Monday. Hydrological and topographical studies are under way prior to constructing the US-financed bridge linking the Afghan and Tajik banks of the Pyandzh river, embassy sources said.
The bridge will be a major contribution to the development of economic ties between Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran, the Tajik transport ministry said.
It will also help speed up postwar reconstruction in Afghanistan by permitting faster travel of humanitarian convoys from Tajikistan, it said.
Tajikistan, a desperately poor former Soviet republic, provided support for the US-led military campaign that overthrew the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001 and has been a staging-post for the delivery of international aid.